How Predictive Is UWSA 2 for Step 3?
UWSA 2 has been submitted to Predict My Step Score 9,667 times and tracked against the real Step 3 results students went on to report. In that data, UWSA 2 showed high predictive power: a strong, consistent link to the real score, ranking #1 of 7 practice exams.
What is UWSA 2?
The UWorld Self-Assessments (UWSA 1, UWSA 2 and, for some Steps, UWSA 3) are UWorld's full-length practice exams, taken in timed blocks like the real test. The report gives a 3-digit score estimate, an equated percent correct, your percentile among UWorld users and a breakdown by subject and system. They are written by the same team as the UWorld question bank, so they feel like harder QBank questions, and their score estimate comes from UWorld's own model rather than the NBME's.
What is a good UWSA 2 score?
In our data, UWSA 2 scores ranged from 180 to 257. Real scores usually landed well higher than the UWSA 2 score, but the link is real but loose: two students with the same UWSA 2 score can finish well apart on the real exam. A "good" UWSA 2 score is one that puts your likely outcome comfortably above the score you need — run it through the predictor to see where you stand.
When should you take UWSA 2?
Most students take the UWSAs in the last two to three weeks of dedicated study — UWSA 1 first, as a diagnostic, and UWSA 2 closer to the exam as the final readiness check — with enough days in between to act on the weak areas each report flags. In our data, real scores usually landed right around the UWSA 2 score.
Does it matter when you take UWSA 2?
Timing matters twice over. First, a score from six weeks out is a snapshot of a student who then kept studying, so early tests tend to sit below the real result — much of what looks like "underprediction" is simply improvement after the test. Second, our predictor does not treat every score you enter equally: each one is weighted by the exam's R² and by how recently you took it, with a recency factor that decays exponentially from your most recent test back to your oldest, and your three most recent scores drive the final adjustment. Enter the days-before-exam for each test honestly — it changes the answer.
Enter your UWSA 2 score
How UWSA 2 compares
Wondering whether to take UWSA 2 next? See which practice tests are most predictive.
| Rank | Practice exam | Predictive power |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UWSA 2 | High |
| 2 | Practice exam | — |
| 3 | Practice exam | — |
| 4 | Practice exam | — |
| 5 | Practice exam | — |
| 6 | Practice exam | — |
| 7 | Practice exam | — |
Some Step 3 practice tests miss your real score by 20+ points, and one NBME form barely tracks it at all. Don't find out which on exam day.
Unlock the full ranking + your predicted scoreUWSA 2 vs the other UWorld self-assessments
UWSA 2 is one of 2 UWorld self-assessments in our Step 3 data, and they are not interchangeable: predictive power differs from form to form. The others — UWSA 1 — each have their own page, and the full side-by-side ranking is available to premium users. How predictive is UWSA 1?
Frequently asked
Is UWSA 2 accurate?
UWSA 2 showed high predictive power in our data: a strong, consistent link to the real score. But no practice test is "accurate" on its own — most are taken while you are still improving, so the number you see is rarely the number you get. Combining your scores, weighted by each exam's track record and timing, gives a sharper answer than any single test. Predict your Step 3 score →
How far off is UWSA 2 usually?
Like most practice tests, UWSA 2 is usually taken while you are still improving, so real scores tend to come in higher. What matters is the size of that gap; for UWSA 2, real scores usually landed well above it. The exact figures power our predictor rather than this page — it corrects for UWSA 2's gap and for when you took each exam, automatically. Run your scores through it →
Where does this data come from?
9,667 UWSA 2 scores have been submitted to Predict My Step Score so far. Whenever a student also reports their actual Step 3 result, the pair goes into the model behind this page; it was last refit on 2026-05-14.
Can't I just ask ChatGPT how predictive UWSA 2 is?
Not reliably. A prediction is only as good as the paired data behind it: real UWSA 2 scores matched to the real Step 3 result those same students went on to get. General-purpose AI models are trained on forum posts and articles, not on verified outcomes, so what you get back is a summary of anecdotes rather than a calibrated estimate. The numbers on this page come from students who reported both. Read more →
UWSA 2 is one of the better signals for Step 3 — but no single test settles it.
The predictor combines every practice exam you have taken — weighted by how predictive each one is and how recently you took it — into a single prediction with a 95% confidence interval.
Predict my Step 3 scorePremium adds the full ranking, unlimited predictions, and tracking over time.
Data refreshed 2026-05-14.
